


Teen Wolf, Season 2, Episode 11, Battlefield

by TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Analysis, Episode Review, Episode: s02e11 Battlefield, Meta, Nonfiction, Season/Series 02, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 11:09:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16217801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer/pseuds/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer
Summary: Warning: Contains spoilers for the episode and the rest of the series. Complete.





	Teen Wolf, Season 2, Episode 11, Battlefield

Open to Stiles fiddling with his lacrosse stick in Morrell’s office.

Objectively, Morrell does nothing wrong in this scene.

There’s a flashback of Gerard drowning Matt.

They talk about Matt, and she asks if Stiles can have sympathy for the boy who suffered a traumatic experience while still condemning what he went on to do.

Where were you last review, Morrell?

Stiles answers he can to a limited point, and the conversation shifts to his dad.

There’s a flashback of Sheriff S receiving his badge back after overseeing the removal of Matt’s body.

Stiles admits things are still tense between the two of them, and it’s established he and Scott haven’t talked much since the station, either.

There’s a flashbacks of various people after the station incident.

Scott tries to talk to Melissa through her bedroom door, and she refuses to answer. Ignoring a foggy message from Scott, Allison works with Chris, and the map they’re looking at shows they’ve discovered the abandoned station might be Derek’s hideout. Sitting on his bed, a blood-covered Jackson looks at his claws. Lydia pours the poisoned punch.

Morrell asks if he’s anxious about the lacrosse game tonight.

“Why would you ask me that,” he demands.

That’s interesting. Stiles doesn’t show the same distrust of Morrell he does towards Deaton, but he’s clearly somewhat wary of her. On the other end, Morrell’s much more open towards him than Deaton is.

Composing himself, he explains he never actually plays in the game. He makes a joke about one teammate being dead and the other being missing.

She clarifies he’s talking about Isaac, one of the three runaways.

Boyd was on the lacrosse team, too. Scott has never cared about Boyd, but as I’ve said, I believe Stiles always has. Is there a reason he’s not bringing up Boyd, or is this Scott’s narrative bias seeping through?

Stiles asks why she isn’t taking notes, and she answers she does so after the session has ended.

He insists he’s fine. Then, he admits he’s not. She says he’s suffering from hyper-vigilance.

When he gives the impression of being ready to give up, she offers this advice: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

She knows what he’s involved in. She knows he can’t turn back right now. It’s literally not safe for him or his loved ones to do so. And she’s not trying to minimise the psychological ramifications or give him the ‘you must rise to the call’ speech.

Sometimes, people can’t turn around and be back in a better part of their life. Sometimes, whether they like it or not, they can’t stop bad things from happening to them. The only options they have are to give up and let the bad consume them or do what they have to do to survive the bad.

After the credits, Scott is wiping the fog off his mirror when he hears something.

He finds Melissa being held by the neck by K-Jackson, and Gerard says they need to talk. He wants Derek and the other three.

Quick note: Melissa is wearing different scrubs than she was last time.

Scott points out Gerard has driven them all into hiding.

Claiming he’s in Beacon Hills to avenge Kate, Gerard orders Scott to draw them out.

Gerard and K-Jackson leave, and Melissa begs Scott to give Gerard what he wants. Scott helplessly tries to explain he can’t.

I can see Melissa’s side of things, and I would be so much more sympathetic to Scott’s helplessness here if he’d actually done something as simple as talking to his best friend and girlfriend before any of it got to this point.

Melissa doesn’t understand any of this. She loves her son, but she doesn’t know what to make of him being a believed fictional species or how to feel about it. She’s seen him shot, she was held hostage, and a creature just held her by the neck due to a man with a daughter who was killed by werewolves wanting to kill more werewolves.

She’s trying to retreat back to a world where everything makes sense. She doesn’t care about these werewolves she doesn’t know, she cares about herself and her family.

But Scott isn’t bravely sticking to doing what he knows is right. He’s not risking their relationship for the sake of being the hero he knows he must try to be.

Elsewhere, Erica and Boyd are going through the woods, and Boyd stops her. They hear werewolves howling.

At Derek’s, he quickly realises they’ve decided to leave. He isn’t happy, but he does try to listen to them. They tell him they think they might have found another pack.

Over at Deaton’s, Isaac shows up. He’s lost and dejected, and the dogs howling at him doesn’t help. Deaton kindly opens the gate for him. “It’s okay, Isaac. We’re open.”

Meanwhile, Erica and Boyd make it clear why they’re leaving: They don’t want to, but it’s become clear their safety isn’t his first priority.

Derek doesn’t try to stop them, but he refuses to give them any sort of closure. They leave with Erica leading Boyd by the hand.

I don’t know if other hunter families claim matriarchy or not. Even with Araya, I don’t know if the Calaveras do or if this is strictly an Argent thing.

In an earlier review, I said I thought Boyd might make a good hunter if not for his welcoming of the supernatural.

I get the feeling, if not for Erica deciding to leave, Boyd would stay.

When Derek told him to leave in an earlier episode, he did. When she does later, he comes back. I do think Boyd cares about Derek and Isaac, but whether it’s romantic or not, his relationship with Erica is the strongest.

Turning, Derek looks at himself in shard of glass.

It’s ambiguous if he knows or not, but throwing the shard, he turns to find Peter has caught it. “I expected a slightly warmer welcome, but- point taken.”

At the clinic, Deaton’s helping a dog, and Isaac realises the dog’s not getting better. Deaton suggests it’s time to learn what werewolf abilities can do for others. He gently places Isaac’s hand on the dog, and Isaac absorbs some of the pain, and when it starts to hit him what he did, he tries not to cry. Scott assures him, “It’s okay. The first time he showed me, I cried, too.”

Daniel Sharman does awesome with this scene. It’s no wonder Isaac quickly became a fan favourite after this episode.

On a different note, the pain drain isn’t normally a good thing. Even before I read this and the show itself came out to say it, I was wondering about the implications of it during a season 3 scene.

There might be certain instances where it’s a good or neutral thing. If this dog dies a little earlier than it would have but more comfortably, I don’t have a problem with it. Taking pain often means taking some of a person’s life, however, unless the shifter doing it actively concentrates on willing some of their spark into the person.

This is another thing Derek didn’t teach the betas, but in this instance, him not teaching them how to do it isn’t the problem. The problem is him not warning them against it.

Speaking of Derek: “Quite a situation you’ve got yourself in here, Derek. I mean, I’m out of commission for a few weeks, and suddenly, there’s lizard people, geriatric psychopaths, and you’re cooking up werewolves out of every self-esteem deprived adolescent in town.”

Derek asks what Peter wants. Claiming he wants to help, he again plays the ‘only remaining family card’.

In response to all this, Derek throws him against the stairs.

Derek might have been Talia’s son, but he was Peter’s boy. If there’s one thing I do believe about Peter, it’s he genuinely loves Derek. He might lead Derek astray, but he doesn’t want to destroy Derek.

Back at the clinic, Deaton is gone, and Isaac has told Scott about the others planning to leave. Asking for advice, he states, “Because, I trust you.”

There’s no one to validate this scene, but I believe it.

From Isaac’s POV: Before the rave, Scott didn’t tell anyone when he discovered Isaac was a werewolf. He destroyed the freezer used to torment Isaac. He had Isaac and Erica paralysed and thrown onto the ground, but he didn’t hurt them in revenge for trying to kill Lydia or kill them to prevent it. He even gave Derek and Boyd enough time to get them out before the police arrived.

At the rave, he explicitly said he cared about Isaac’s wellbeing. Even after Isaac tried to kill a defenceless girl, even after Isaac made Scott’s life much harder than it should have been, even after Scott flat-out said, “I don’t trust him,” he stood there and told Isaac he was more concerned with Isaac getting hurt than he was Isaac doing the job the way he wanted it done.

Still trying to sell himself as the hero he’s not, Scott makes it clear he’s going to stay to fight, because, people need him. Isaac comments he’s lucky, then, as no one needs him.

Derek refuses to admit he needs anyone, and Erica and Boyd want him, but the truth is no, they don’t need him.

He wishes Scott luck in the game. Scott says he’s not playing, and remembering Scott was absent for a practise, Isaac informs him it was decided at said practise Jackson would be playing.

In the locker room, Danny expresses his worry about Jackson’s self-isolating behaviour, and Jackson warns Danny to stay in the goal and to run as fast as he can if he sees Jackson coming towards him. Scott hears this.

Melissa comes into the locker room, and it’s a good thing all the teenage boys are properly dressed. The coach gives a speech from Independence Day (heh), and Stiles and Melissa have a nice moment of bonding over their shared exasperation and confusion towards him.

Then, Gerard comes in. He gives a more motivating speech, but it doubles as being sinister to those who know who he truly is. Then, it’s revealed Scott is being benched.

When everyone heads out, Scott tries to convince Coach otherwise, but despite his clear dislike of Gerard and the situation, Coach realises there are bigger stakes than a game at play, and right now, he’s either appeasing the hunter or merely giving the impression he is. Later on, he doesn’t stop Isaac when Isaac breaks the rules of the game to get Scott in it.

Over at Derek’s, he’s beating the ever-loving tar out of Peter.

Peter makes it clear he doesn’t want to be the alpha, and I believe him. I’ve said before, I don’t buy the scenes in later seasons that imply he wants to be an alpha. Whatever happened with Laura, he wouldn’t have taken her spark/life if he’d been in his right mind. The one thing Stiles and Peter do have in common is there are certain people they’d die, kill, and torture for, and then, there’s everyone else. There might be some people in everyone else they’d risk or sacrifice a little more than normal for, but in the end, the certain people mean everything.

For Peter, Derek has always been among the certain people. It takes time, but eventually, Derek joins these ranks in Stiles’s mind, too.

When saying this doesn’t work, calling Derek out on his anger and self-loathing, Peter encourages Derek to keep hitting him. “I may be the one taking the beating, Derek, but you’ve already been beaten. So, go ahead, hit me, if it’ll make you feel better. After all, I did say I wanted to help.”

Derek lets go, and Peter falls. “You can’t help me.”

At the game, Melissa and Sheriff S are sitting together.

Down on the bench, Stiles expresses his stress over being so powerless, and assuming this happened, Scott is genuinely supportive and non-condemning.

Coming over, Coach puts Stiles in the game, and Greenberg is confirmed to be a boy, though the debate on whether he’s real or not is still open. Stiles is being put in Greenberg’s place, because, “He sucks. You suck slightly less.”

In the stands, Sheriff S’s reaction is, “Oh, no.” He wonders what Stiles is doing on the field.

Melissa’s reaction is a confused, “Because, he’s on the team?”

The realisation hits him, and literally standing up, he loudly announces his son is playing in the game. Aw.

Gerard ruins the happy moment by speaking to Scott from afar.

In a forest, Erica and Boyd hold hands as they try to avoid Chris, Allison, and the other hunters. It’s revealed said hunters have been using recordings of wolves to lure the two.

I’m curious: Do either Erica or Boyd have a phone? Is it charged? Could they get service in the woods if they did? Because, if they do, it is, and they can, why aren’t they calling or texting someone for help?

Back at the game, Gerard says Scott has until the last thirty seconds of the game to hand Derek over, or Jackson will kill someone.

Up in the stands, Lydia sits down next to Sheriff S and Melissa.

At Derek’s, Peter is looking at himself in the shard of glass.

He points out he’s not healing as fast due to the coming back from the dead thing. “I need a pack. An alpha. Like you. I need you as much as you need me.”

Derek scoffs. “Why would I want help from a total psycho?”

“First of all, I’m not a _total_ psycho.” Very reassuring that. “By the way, you’re the one who slashed my throat wide open, but we’re all works in progress, right?”

Peter continues, sometimes, when one needs help, they turn to someone they’d never expect.

On the field, Stiles is doing badly, and both Melissa and Lydia try to reassure Sheriff S.

Isaac sits down next to Scott.

“You came to help.”

“I came to win,” Isaac corrects.

In the woods, Erica and Boyd are running, and Erica is hit by Allison’s arrow. She insists Boyd run, and he does. Allison draws another arrow to fire at Erica.

Back at the game, Isaac asks if Scott has a plan, and aside from trying to make sure Jackson doesn’t kill anyone, no. Isaac says they need to force Coach to play Scott, and Scott points out Coach has a whole bench of people he can play before entering Scott.

In response, Isaac looks at him, and catching on, Scott asks if Isaac can take the others out without putting anyone in the hospital.

“I can try.” Putting on his helmet and entering the field, Isaac smiles deviously at Jackson.

Isaac takes his teammates out, but weirdly, the referee or no one else demands he be taken out. Coach yells at him, and I understand why he’s not doing more: He’s always sided more with the supernatural than the hunters, but what’s the explanation for everyone else?

In the woods, Allison shoots the arrow, and Boyd catches it. Allison shoots more at him, and though he starts to shift, he doesn’t advance towards her.

Erica begs Allison to stop.

On the field, Isaac is paralysed in the leg by Jackson. He’s taken off in a stretcher, Gerard taunts Scott, and Coach puts Scott in.

Melissa comes to talk to him, and he tells her to leave. Refusing, she admits to being wrong, and she encourages him to do what he knows to be right.

Meanwhile, Chris shoots Allison bow, and it’s a really good thing he didn’t hit her by accident.

He’ll do this, but he won’t have a heart-to-heart with his daughter or just get her away from Gerard and lay down the law about her not doing this until she’s a legal adult.

It’s possible he wants Derek, too, but he knows this isn’t good for her.

Ironically, out of all her parental figures, Kate did the best job. She saw some of herself in Allison and encouraged it, but she also tried to help Allison become her own person. She gave her niece knowledge, she taught her how to protect herself, and she told her: You have the right to the truth. Here it is. Now, what do you want to do with it? Knowing it, what kind of person do you want to be?

She manipulated Allison, too, but she didn’t try to break Allison, and she never stood by when someone else was attempting to break Allison. She was genuinely supportive when what she thought was a human boy broke Allison’s heart. She never made Allison feel as if Allison’s femininity was an obstacle to being strong. She called her gorgeous, danced around the room with her, and taught her to use a Taser.

Next, there are various shots of characters being knocked to the ground.

Gerard promises Scott can have Allison if Scott cooperates.

Back in the woods, Allison and Chris argue, and she leaves a message for Gerard where she calls him “Grandpa”.

Meanwhile, in a bathroom, another hunter and Gerard with a sword corner a physically weak Isaac. If it were possible to despise Gerard more, I would for him going on about how it’d be more poetic if this were half-time.

Back with the Hales, Peter says Gerard’s winning.

“How about you tell me something I don’t know?”

“Oh, I’m going to. And it’s going to prove why you should trust me. Why you need to trust me. Because, I’m going to tell you how to stop Jackson.”

Derek asks if Peter knows how to kill Jackson.

“Actually, how to save him,” Peter answers.

In the bathroom, Isaac manages to stand up, and when he turns, he smiles. In the mirror, Gerard sees Scott has arrived.

Meanwhile, Stiles finally scores a goal.

In the bathroom, Scott throws the other hunter against the wall but finds Gerard has disappeared.

On the field, Stiles scores more goals, and everyone is so proud of him.

At the Hale house, there’s some back and forth, and Peter says Lydia can save Jackson through the power of love.

Meanwhile, Stiles scores some more goals.

Back with the Hales, Peter accuses Derek of lacking heart. He declares this is why Derek has always known he needs Scott, and if this happened, it’s proof he’s working with someone. Gerard, Deaton, or someone else is the question.

Finishing, Peter says even he (Peter) knows not to underestimate the power of love.

At the game, Beacon Hills has won, and Stiles is overjoyed to see Lydia clapping. This comes right after Peter’s line, and I interpret this as a bone to Sterek, Stydia, and Lydia/Jackson shippers all.

Appearing, Scott passes an extra with adorable afro puffs. He sees the last thirty seconds of the game have come.

The whistle’s blown. Melissa and Sheriff S adorably hug.

Scott realises everyone is still alive.

Then, the lights go out, and through the panic, Scott hones in on Melissa’s voice. Aw.

When the lights come back on, Jackson is lying in the field, and Scott and Isaac realise Jackson turned his claws on himself. Melissa and Lydia try to resuscitate Jackson, and Sheriff S realises Stiles is missing.

“Where in the hell is my son?”

Fin.


End file.
